"If Kevin Durant wants to get rid of the stigma, why is he afraid?" Sports analyst Rob Parker says the Brooklyn Nets superstar should admit to using marijuana

Kevin Durant has been linked to marijuana ever since his early days with the OKC Thunder. The superstar forward recently announced a partnership and sponsorship deal with Weedmaps on Thursday. Weedmaps is an e-commerce website or an online marketplace wherein cannabis users can be guided to the right dispensaries. Durant aims to destagmatize the use of marijuana in professional sports with the help of this partnership, but when asked whether he personally consumes it, he declined to comment.

Kevin Durant partnered with Weedmaps through his own Boardroom media network along with business partner Rich Kleiman.

.@weedmaps CEO @chrisbeals shared his thoughts on the current and future state of the cannabis industry on our Out Of Office podcast w/ @richkleiman.Where do you think the industry is headed? pic.twitter.com/8aLUL590TK

— Boardroom (@boardroom) August 20, 2021

Sports analyst Rob Parker spoke about the partnership and Kevin Durant declining to comment on personal use of marijuana on his radio show on Fox Sports,

"If [Kevin Durant] wants to get rid of the stigma, why is he afraid to say that he partakes in weed? ... For people who say, 'Just because he's involved in cannabis and investing doesn't mean he smokes it,' yeah, right. My point is, if it's okay and you want to get rid of the stigma, you gotta stand up and be counted."

Parker further spoke about how NBA players, and especially stars with huge recognition, should come together and collectively speak out against the stigma around marijuana. He added,

"And if 10 or 20 best NBA players stood up and said, 'We smoke weed and we don't think it's a bad thing, and here are the reasons why, and we need to stop marking people with a check mark if we find out that they smoke weed or whatever,' that's how you make changes."

Rob Parker said that if Kevin Durant truly wants to end the stigma around marijuana, then staying quiet about personal use is weird to him, as if Durant is ashamed or afraid that people will look at him differently.

Kevin Durants intends on ending the stigma around marijuana use by partnering with Weedmaps

Kevin Durant with the Brooklyn Nets in 2019 [Source: Bleacher Report]

According to Kevin Durant, his partnership with the marijuana e-commerce company Weedmaps is the first step to destigmatizing cannabis use in sports. He told ESPN,

"I think it's far past time to address the stigmas around cannabis that still exist in the sports world as well as globally...This partnership is going to help us continue to normalize those conversations, as well as create content, events, and a lot more through our Boardroom media network. This is just the beginning for us."

The NBA banned random testing for marijuana during the 2020 NBA Bubble in Orlando and didn't re-introduce it in the 2020-21 NBA season. Random drug testing still exists and Raptors guard Jalen Harris was recently suspended for a year following violations of the league's anti-drug policy. However, the last person to be suspended for marijuana in particular was Thabo Sefolosha in 2018.

In a significant move in the athlete/marijuana space, Kevin Durant signs a partnership with Weedmaps to promote benefits of cannabis to athletes: https://t.co/PiBY9Skt9b

— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) August 19, 2021

Former NBA player Matt Barnes has been linked to cannabis use and admitted to smoking marijuana before games. He has long been an advocate for cannabis and supported its consumption for years. Barnes was one of the main voices speaking out against the benefits of banning marijuana testing when the NBA did so ahead of the 2020-21 NBA season. He spoke about Durant's partnership and what it means for the league,

"There's a shifting culture and it takes a superstar like KD to embrace this and help others not be afraid to discuss the benefits...This has been a process. There have been meetings going on with the league and union for several years and both sides have hired experts to investigate this. This is a big step."

Kevin Durant said on his 'Boardroom: Out of Office' podcast that the Band-Aid has been ripped off while announcing the deal and that he plans on releasing podcasts and videos under Boardroom media and added that he hopes people in the league will join him to discuss the benefits of cannabis.